This invention relates to a device for collecting hydrocarbon fluids escaping from a seabottom wellhead blow-out, i.e. an uncontrolled eruption.
Blowouts from subsea wells usually contain oil, gas and water. Upon reaching the surface the gas either burns or escapes to the atmosphere. However, even if there is a surface fire, most of the liquid hydrocarbon remains unburned and causes marine pollution. Several technologies have been developed for dealing with the surface oil to try to minimize pollution, with varying degrees of success.
Two attempts at subsurface collection have taken place. At the Santa Barbara blowout of about 10 years ago, an umbrella shaped fabric device was placed near the surface to collect oil that rose into it. The oil was then pumped out of the top of the umbrella.
The second attempt was made at the IXTOC well in Campeche Bay in 1979. In this case an inverted steel cone was installed above the well head with the cone below the ocean surface. The device was supported on a cantilever truss from a fixed platform on the ocean surface. Any oil and gas that were collected were conducted to the surface through a marine riser by means of the gas-lift process, i.e. the buoyancy of the gas provided the pumping force.